Apr 5, 2020 2 min read

A team of four seventh-graders from Fort Couch Middle School in Upper St. Clair placed first in the sixth- through eighth-grade division at the regional STEM Design Challenge March 3 at Duquesne University.

Ryan Buonomo, Max Biedrzycki, Ben Seewald and Ryan Popp qualified to compete at the state-level competition, which was scheduled for May 8 in Harrisburg but canceled because of COVID-19.

Sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, the STEM Design Challenge tasks teams of students in forth through eighth grades with designing and building a structure using K’Nex that addresses a given challenge. Teams were required to use at least one motor and could not exceed 1,400 K’Nex pieces.

“The STEM Design Challenge encourages students to collaborate as they apply the Engineering design process to accomplish a given goal,” Jason O’Roark, gifted education teacher, said. “This year, the students’ winning design is intended to help generate clean energy using the motion of the waves.”

Student are judged on creativity, teamwork, challenge success, design and presentation. The top team in each division at each regional competition will advance to the state competition.

In addition to designing and building a structure using K’Nex, teams must also create a blueprint and narrative about their structure. At competition, the teams of students must build their structure from their blueprints, within a two-hour time period. Once completed, they present their design solution to a team of judges.

In addition to the first place Fort Couch team, other Upper St. Clair students who participated in the STEM Design Challenge include seventh graders Ishaan Sharma, Rohan Mehta, Krishna Sathya Vagheeswar, Ryan Hyatt, Tyler McClintock-Comeaux, Colin Rump and Carlee Santel.